


Miraculous Ladybug - Starfighter AU

by mermanfromdownunder



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - No Miraculous, Alternate Universe - Space, Artificial Intelligence, F/M, Fanfiction, Fighter Pilots, Flirting, Future, Inspired by Miraculous Ladybug, Ladybug - Freeform, Science Fiction, Space Flight, Space Opera, Star Wars References, War
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-11
Updated: 2018-12-05
Packaged: 2019-03-16 18:22:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,298
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13641909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mermanfromdownunder/pseuds/mermanfromdownunder
Summary: Mari and Ren are pilots in the Federation Defence Force, tasked with protecting the human colony planet Paris from small scale attacks by the elusive and malevolent Alliance. 12 years after the Federation capital was devastated by a massive Alliance attack, the time has come for the Alliance to strike again.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> You can also find this story on Wattpad under the same name. Also follow me on Instagram @mermanfromdownunder

A blazing siren roused her from her sleep. An alert message played across the holoscreen in glowing red lettering, partly illuminating the dim room. Her brain went into autopilot, the numerous drills and the almost year of training had prepared her. She slipped out of her small bunk and landed on her feet with a soft thud. Moving over to the rack on the other side of the tiny room like a blind man, she unhooked a vibrant red flight suit. Pulling the suit up over her naked figure, she made adjustments to the skin-tight armour weave fabric as needed and zipped the back up like she had done hundreds of times before. She depressed a button on the side of a module attached to her belt. She tensed at the slight pain of a cluster of microneedles as they punctured her upper left arm. A quiet hiss could be heard for a moment over the top of the still blaring alarm. The young woman felt and looked instantly more awoken as the administered stimulant entered her bloodstream. She rubbed the tender spot for a second before glancing at the holoscreen. 

[ALL STATIONS - RED ALERT - LARGE FLEET DETECTED LONG RANGE- ALL SHIPS TO INTERCEPT]

The large glowing red text was all the girl needed to read. Following was more detailed information, but she didn't have time to read that. She checked her suit over once more before sprinting out of her room and into the dimly lit corridor. 

If this was a simulated emergency exercise, nobody showed it on their face as she passed. Normally the short walk to the hanger would have only taken a few minutes; the girl and a few other pilots that had exited their rooms just after and caught up to her in the corridor, sprinted there in less than half that. 

[](https://www.flickr.com/photos/139610345@N02/26493841217/in/dateposted-public/)

The hanger was a buzz with activity; officers screaming orders, workers detaching power and fuel lines, ordinance men loading the armaments, fight directors signalling a squad of fighters to lift-off. She and the other handful of pilots entered through the blast door at the back of the hanger. A few of the pilots splinted off to join their flight teams over the other side while the girl and three of the others joined the briefing. An older Oriental man stood atop some scaffolding flanked by two officers. Once the man saw the last few pilots fall in, he began his brief. 

"I'll keep this quick, as we need to get all ships up there ASAP!" The man barked with the aid of a vocal enhancer. "You will all receive detailed tactical reports once the ships drop from FTL. However, from our long-range scans we estimate the fleet approaching is larger than our forces can repel alone." The pilots and crew gathered began to look slightly nervous. "Red Squad, your mission is to take out the canons on any destroyer or dreadnought making its way into weapons range. Green Squad, your objective is to defend Red Squad and take out as many fighters as you can. Our end goal is to delay the enemy for as long as possible. Ships from two neighbouring colonies and a relay station are inbound to assist. All pilots to your ships, and may the spirits grant you a safe return!"

The flight teams dissipated in orderly chaos, scrambling to get to their respective ships. Except for the girl, who waited for everyone else to leave, she wanted to wait for someone in particular to run to their ships with. 

A young man with almost longer than regulation blonde hair stood leaning against the scaffolding, checking over a holoboard that most likely contained a more detailed briefing. He finished his quick scan of the contents before zipping the top of his flight suit up to his neck. As he began running off he saw the girl who had been waiting for him. 

"Hey Mari, looks like we'll be covering your butts today." The young man said cheekily, altering his speed so the girl could catch up. 

"It's always appreciated. Hope babysitting us won't ruin your kill count." The girl grinned, throwing the sass back at him. 

"Oh, don't worry, it won't. Stay safe up there!" He said, splitting off down the row to where his fighter was.

All the girl had time to say was "You too!". 

There was clearly chemistry between the pair, even a half deaf ordinance loader could see that. Ren, the leader of Green Squad: Green One, was an ace pilot. Self-proclaimed 'best pilot in the federation defence force fleet', he had the skills to back it up. He was the same age as Mari, at only 19, some still would consider too young to be fighting in the wars. But this was a desperate time; everyone older than 18 and able to fight was enlisted in some role or another and those that showed proficiency at piloting and other key roles were trained up. New pilots strived to be the leader of a squad, a position that Ren held with great delight. Mari's callsign was Red Five, the higher your number, the more skilled in theory. She had held Red Five for the entire time she'd been assigned to the squadron. 

[](https://www.flickr.com/photos/139610345@N02/26493837857/in/dateposted-public/)   
[](https://www.flickr.com/photos/139610345@N02/27493916648/in/dateposted-public/)

Red Squad was made up of 20 pilots of varying age and background. Usually only 15 would fly and 5 would be held in reserve for emergencies, but today, 3 of the red squad reserve pilots got to fly a spare gunship in blue squad, leaving just 2 in reserve who were geared up and ready to fly at a moment’s notice. Mari was not the youngest as she had at least 2 fellow squad members younger than her that she knew closely. Red Eleven was Alya, one of Mari's close friends she knew from training. Alya had been her co-pilot and gunner for many exercises but was also a competent pilot and had only just gotten a place in the squad. Nath, a friendship she forged when she first made the squad, was Red Seven. A shorter boy that could barely reach the control peddles of his ship but was an exceptional shot with a plasma torpedo. Mari always knew his ship from the others by the painted artwork on the side panels of his bomber. 

Mari hurried up to her awaiting ship that was already readied for her by the flight crew. She climbed the ladder to the cockpit; a crew member pulled the ladder away once she was in and gave her a thumbs up. The girl pulled her matching red helmet, decorated with 5 black dots to match her squad position, that was hooked up behind the headrest down onto her blue hair, straightening the thick cables that ran out the back once she did. She adjusted herself in the moulded seat which fit her body like a glove. Pressing a button on the centre of her belt engaged a maglock that fastened the back of her armordex flight suit to the seat. Mari flicked a lever to the left of her which lowered the canopy down and locked it in place. With a combination of button presses, ingrained in her subconscious from flight training, Mari started the oxygen flow to her helmet, increased the fuel flow and enabled the shields. 

 

Once the quick pre-flight check was complete, Mari's ship lifted off the flight deck. She had nicknamed it 'The Ladybug' due to its side thrusters looking like spots among its sleek red paint job, which she had taken the time during her off hours to paint black and add actual spots. Inspired by the custom paint job Nath gave to his ship. 

 

Green Squad had left the hanger before Red Squad as per procedure. Once every Red Squad bomber was off the deck plating, they filed out of the large hanger door in squad order.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More coming very soon! If you liked this, please show your support :) Let me know what you think!


	2. Chapter 2

Mari fought the controls of her bomber every time they had left the atmosphere of Paris. She never got used to seeing her home world from such height, the small city she grew up in became smaller and smaller before it was invisible to the naked eye. 

As the swarm of bombers broke the outer layers of atmosphere, Mari could see the glowing yellow engines of Green Squadron dim as they came to a halt. She was informed by her squad leader over her COMM to form up behind Green Squad, with distance between each ship. Her position in the formation put her just down and to the left of Green Leader. Mari could tell Ren's fighter, 'The Black Cat' easily apart from the others due to the custom painted hydrogen tank, the yellow hued plating accented the black and green fighter.

[](https://www.flickr.com/photos/139610345@N02/27493918248/in/dateposted-public/)

The COMM channels Mari was tuned in on were muddled with dozens of voices from squad leaders, team members calling in and command personnel advising fleet placement. Mari's personal AI that was integrated into her ship, prioritised messages in real time that may be important for her to hear; such as Red Leader or the fleet admiral, increasing the volume of those particular transmissions in her helmet. 

On one of the first days of basic training, Mari and all the other cadets had been issued with an AI construct unit. Mari had chosen to give it a nickname and customise its personality, much like most other cadets. She had settled on the name 'Tikki' as it was the name of her neighbour's dog when she was little and gave it a sweet feminine voice to match. 

Mari had also asked Tikki to prioritise anything from or about Green Leader. This wasn't against protocol but would be considered unusual as she really had no reason for it. Mari hadn't done anything about her infatuation with Ren, he was the leader of Green Squad after all, one of the most well-known and respected people on the base. But she liked to keep tabs on him and during meals where their schedules lined up, she would ogle him from across the mess hall when he wasn't looking. But she had always wished for more, since the day she had met him. During the first new recruits meeting, he caught her eye, sitting across from her at large briefing table. Luckily, she had Tikki record the session, because she had barely been listening after she had glanced at Ren, her normal sharp mind turned into ration paste. Over the past year the pair had become mutually chummy and flirty to each other, verging on foreplay. Mari was too nervous to ask anything of him; like spending some down time together or eating in the mess together. And while Ren definitely seemed interested by flirting, it confused her that he hadn't done anything about it either. 

She cleared her mind, calming herself before the impending battle. A countdown on her main display was nearing zero, indicating the predicted arrival of the enemy fleet based on the sensor data. 

Normally, at random intervals, but no more than two per month, the 'Alliance' as they had called themselves would send small clusters of ships at Paris and other planets in the nearby systems occupied by Federation colonies. Typically, no more than a destroyer, frigate and a few corvettes would jump out from FTL travel, and quickly and easily be dispatched by the outer-orbital defences and stationed ships of a colony, with rarely any Federation casualties. Today however, was the largest jump signature Ensign Kanté, who had been on the monitoring station that morning had ever seen, even during training. Thinking it was a glitch at first, but soon realising it wasn't, he had been the one to raise the alarm. 

While she wasn't an expert on galactic politics, she had seen enough on the holocasts and in the required texts for her schooling to have some idea of what was going on, and why she had to fight. It had begun only a few years before her birth; a member of the federation council had grown tired of the constant debate over petty matters and had been channelling credits off world into creating a private militia. Years later, the actions of this man still going undiscovered, someone in the council finally noticed the funds discrepancy. Just as an internal investigation was launched to track down the missing credits, the man vanished without a trace. By the time Mari was 7 orbits old, the man had reappeared as the leader of the militia he had been creating. While small in comparison to the combined federation fleet at first, the man had been busy making deals with non-federation planets. It only took him a year to grow his forces enough to rival the defences and fleet protecting the federation capital planet. 

Mari's parents had known a few people living on the capital at the time of the attack. Less than a quarter of the total population had escaped the planet-wide bloodshed and destruction. The leader of the Alliance had not accepted the capital's surrender and plea to stop the relentless assault. Although the capital had fallen, the Alliance was almost crippled from the resistance the defence fleet gave them, with only a few larger ships and some cruisers remaining. And what remained of the Alliance had jumped away before reinforcements made it there, leaving an obliterated planet and millions dead behind. 

The effect of the attack had ripped across the galaxy, all defences on federation world's tripled, if not more. What was once used to scare off pirates, mine asteroids and little more, were repurposed into orbital defence platforms with an immense array of ordinance and top of the line shield plating and point defences. Usually a hanger planet-side would send ships up to assist if the target wasn't dying quickly enough or of the Alliance ships were particularly tough that day, but in a pinch the orbital stations on most worlds could keep up with the attacks unassisted. For the last ten years, the Alliance had been seemingly probing each of the Federation's outposts, colonies and stations with a small handful of ships; retreating or being destroyed each time. Possibly learning strategies, counting ships and analysing defences. At least that was the only logical conclusion Mari had come to, and many of the statistical analysts and strategic advisors had said similar things. Was this what the ten years of small attacks was leading up to? Was today the day the Alliance finally struck again?

 

Mari gave the ships systems another once over, checking each switch, knob and lever was in the right place for the impending attack. The other pilots would be doing similar checks as well, but Mari made sure to be extra thorough. The countdown ended with a piercing tone. For the longest moment Mari had experienced, nothing appeared. She tightened her grip on the control stick and gritted her teeth. 

Like a strike of lightening and the accompanying clap of thunder, a mass of ships appeared some distance away, out of effective weapons range. The shockwave reached the cluster of friendly ships almost instantly, jolting the pilots and their ships slightly. The near silent COMM came to life again, with tactical orders, shock and amazement of how many ships had appeared. Mari tried to make out how many there was for herself, but lost count quickly. Orders trickled down from command, they were all to hold position for now while the scan was nearing completion. 

She listened to the worried voices of her fellow pilots flooding the COMM system, until a familiar voice piped up. 

"Cut the chatter, optimism people, we can do this. Green Leader out." Ren's firm command voice that Mari had rarely heard came through over all the other channels. Instantly the pilots responded by quieting down. Finally, the tactical readout flickered onto one of Mari's screens. Dread instantly filled her, she didn't need to closely study it or zoom in. The number of red blips on the display was uncountable. 

While all the pilots were looking at their displays, the enemy fleet parted down the middle, revealing a heavy dreadnought cruiser, the flagship of the Alliance. Mari was done quickly with her study of the readout and returned her gaze to the fleet. She noticed a purple glow coming from the newly revealed flagship. Her eyes opened wide. 

She flicked the open COMM switch. "All ships this is Red 5, beam weapon inbound! I repeat beam weapon inbound! Evade! Evade! Evade!"

As she screamed the orders over the COMM, her and a few other ships quickly dropped from formation, breaking to either side of the target. A neon beam of pure light fired from the dreadnought and struck the orbital defence station, slicing into it like it was barely there. The large explosion that erupted from the station shot debris into multiple ships that hadn't moved quickly enough after Mari's alert. A few gunships of Blue Squad, a light cruiser, 3 Bombers of Red Squad and 2 Green Squad fighters were ripped apart by the fragments and shockwave of the detonated platform. Some small debris bounced off Mari's wing as she finished her evasion, the deflector shields protecting from any damage. 

The base commander spoke over the COMM, with a hint of uncertainty. "All ships. Engage the enemy."


	3. Chapter 3

The ensuing fight was fairly one sided. Before the defence force ships could get into weapons range, they were already being pounded by Alliance flak cannons and being engaged with enemy fighters. Several callsigns called out in the sea of radio traffic; reporting shield failures then a short scream as their craft exploded. 

Most of Green Squad was still in a loose formation, guiding what remained of Red Squad into position for an attack run on the closest destroyer, while fending off incoming fighters. Mari primed her ordinance and switched on her targeting screen. A volley of explosive warheads ejected from the Red Squad fighters. Most of them impacted the Alliance destroyers heavy shielding before it failed under the strain from the constant detonations. The final few, including Mari's, crashed into the thick plating next to the the large railgun and detonated causing a cascade effect which took out the main reactor with another small explosion, visible as Mari and the rest of the flight group pulled up from the midpoint of the ship. 

"Woooooh! That's how it's done!" An unknown voice squealed over the COMM. 

"It's not over yet!" The strained voice of Ren replied. 

That was only one ship out of commission, out of the at least two dozen more frigates, cruisers destroyers and the dreadnaught. Some of the defence force fleet had taken down other ships and most of the first wave of fighters. The Blue Squad gunships were mopping up the rest of the fighters and escorting a Federation carrier into position to try and stall the enemy fleet. 

"This is Captain Damocles of the Genesis. All Federation ships prepare to evade a core explosion at these co-ordinates." As soon as the man's voice ceased, an icon appeared on Mari's three-dimensional navigational interface. The captain of the Genesis was going to try and stall the incoming fleet by detonating his reactor in the middle of the enemy to try and take as many out as he can. 

Ren lead the attack group away from the designated position to attack another ship. Moments later Mari's cockpit rocked and she looked over to glimpse the Genesis scattered into millions of irradiated shards of deck plating, components and the twenty souls that would have been onboard. It had thrown itself in front of the most advanced ships in the grouping, ripping another destroyer's front off, throwing nuclear shrapnel through a blast door into the hanger of a nearby carrier, taking out 3 frigates and stopping the dreadnaught in its tracks. 

Weapons fire was still being exchanged by the other remaining Federation ships, but their numbers were dwindling. For every Alliance ship the Red/Green Squad attachment disabled or destroyed, the Alliance hit back harder. The word came through on the COMM that the remains of the base personal were being evacuated and the citizens were either being transported off world to nearby colonies or being placed in bunkers. The higher ups mustn't think the battle is going well Mari thought, just as she saw the Alliance ships that had maneuvered in front of the titanic dreadnought peel off again. Before she could announce it over the COMM, Ren's voice broke the ever decreasing radio chatter. 

"FDF Intervention! Evade!" The young man commanded. However it was already too late. As the ship banked hard, firing all of its side thrusters at maximum output, the beam projecter glowed for a second before spitting out a lazer burst that lit up the battlefield. Mari reflexively shielded her eyes from the illumination, when she lowered her arm, the Intervention and the corvette that had been nearby, were nothing but glowing metal fragments.   

"All units, retreat." The admiral's defeated tone conveyed his trepidation. 

Several more Green and Red Squad ships had been lost in the five minutes since the start of the engagement. Only a few gunships remained and they were returning to the small collection of what larger ships remained, while they starting to turn away and calculate jumps. 

The attack group continued pummeling the enemy fleet.  
"Sir, shouldn't we be regrouping with the others? The admiral said-" One of the other members of Green Squad piped up. 

"We need to give our forces time to escape. Those are my orders." Ren ordered firmly. "Once we get the message that everyone is either in a bunker or evacuated, we will rendezvous with what ships are left."

A few more fighters exploded with screams of agony as the group attacked another destroyer's railgun. There were only a few of them remaining now; Green Leader Ren, Green 2 Nino, 4 Alix, 9 Juleka, Red 2, 5 Mari, 7 Nath, 11 Alya and 6.

"That should be everyone jumped away. Let's get out of here."  Ren stated over the COMM. What remained of their little pack formed up and made for an exit. As they broke through the collection of frigates an alarm indicating an inbound FTL jump sounded in all the pilots cockpits. 

"Alright, backup had arrived!" Green 2 excitedly annouced. 

With the typical multi-dimensional ripple of an ship arriving from FTL travel a ship larger than any of the pilots had ever seen came to a physics defying halt right in front of the red/green squad pack. 

"That's not one of ours." Mari spoke worryingly over the COMM. 

Turrets on the gigantic vessel spun round to target the incoming ships. 

"Get out of here! Now!" Ren blasted to all remaining pilots. "Set your jump co-ords here!"

As the remaining ships split off to avoid hitting the new warship, the turrets fired a round of fighter tracking missiles. Mari had instinctively followed behind Ren when they split, her bomber found it difficult to keep up with his speed and graceful evasion of weapons fire. The other fighters and bombers had gone the shorter route, but Mari and Ren navigated around the large vessel, Ren most likely taking as detailed scans as he could as they barreled along just meters from the hull. The other ships announced their jumps in succession once they had cleared the range of the enemy fleet, the missiles that were seeking them detonated due to the lost targets. Ren continued his risky plan with Mari along with it, one of the missiles keeping up with their erratic piloting.

"Mari! You need to jump out of here!" He must have finally noticed she was tailing him.

"Not without you!" She replied, having to force the words to come out while she struggled to match his maneuvers. "Those scans will be no use if you are dead."

Ren realised that Mari was right and jammed on the throttle before sharply turning over 90 degrees away from the hull of the large vessel. Mari followed behind as well she could, but lost a large amount of her velocity in the turn. It was enough time for the missile to gain ground and impact Mari's shields. The explosion shook the ship but the shields held barely. However the warship had launched another missle at them and it was closing fast. Ren and Mari primed their small FTL drives, ready to make their escape. 

The missle impacted Mari's shields but they failed instantly, allowing some of the blast to catch the back of her port wing. The missle was a flechette weapon, containing thousands of small alloy rods that once the missle detonated would propel themselves into the ship, and most likely out the other side, to either cripple systems or destroy it all together. The last remaining power on her shields had protected her from the full brunt of the weapon. But some of the barbed flechette rods had penetrated her engine bay, showing multiple alerts on her display. Life support, thruster controller, shield projectors (not that they were on anymore anyway) were all critically damaged. Everything required to jump was still at least operational; deflector, jump drive and main computer.

"Shit!" Mari could only find the one word to sum up her situation. 

"You okay back there?!" Ren asked.

"I'm fine! Let's jump!" Mari replied flustered. 

The pair engaged their jump drives near simultaneously, and their ships flashed away, leaving the still capable and menacing fleet looming above Paris. 

____________

"Sir. The last two fighters have jumped away. Their vector indicates somewhere different to the escaping transports."

"Track them. However, I assure you, they won't be going anywhere of note, Captain. Keep me informed. I'll be in my quarters."


	4. Chapter 4

Alarms filled the small cockpit, lights flashed and panels sparked. The pilot, unconscious from the crash, hung limp in her seat, still attached by the maglock in the back of her suit. The left wing of her Starfighter had impacted the large branching tree and come to rest, leaving the small craft dangling precariously. The hull was riddled with holes from the barbed rods ejected from the missile, multiple pieces of the once red armor plating were scorched or had fallen away when the ship had entered the atmosphere of the unknown planet. Smoke and steam rose from the components that were on fire as the light sprinkling of sleet fell through the gaps in the thin coving of leaves. 

Mari coughed back into consciousness, ripping her helmet off her head. It took her a moment to adjust to her orientation, dangling halfway out of her flight seat, limbs and the rest of her body feeling the pull of gravity in an unnatural direction. A gentle but chilly breeze blew in from one of the cockpit windows, pierced by a rogue branch that was only centimetres away from impaling the pilot. Her armordex flight suit shielded Mari from the cold wind, but she felt it cool her exposed face and blow her short blue hair. 

She glanced around the cockpit, at what remained of it anyway. COMM system, dead. Nav system, on fire. Main computer, probably penetrated by a hundred tiny rods. Pressing the button on the centre of her belt, which disengaged the maglock, she fell onto the right side of the cockpit, which jostled the craft slightly on its awkward perch. She reached around and placed her hand on the familiar position of the canopy release lever, a necessary manual system that broke the hinge rather than a motor or electronic mechanism, for occasions such as this. With a sharp yank, the canopy was free from the cockpit. However, the tree branch had pinned it in place. Mari looked beyond frustrated; her ship was trashed, the escape attempt wasn't really going by the book and after the shit she just went through, all she wanted to do was wake up and find this was all a weird fever dream she was having because she accidentally left the heating unit on too high when she went to bed. She manoeuvred around and put her feet up onto the window, with a foot each side of the branch. With several repeated kicks, the canopy began to seperate more from the cockpit. A few more kicks and the gap on the right side was big enough for Mari's small frame to fit through. Before she hurled herself out of the damaged starfighter, she looked down... Her day had just gotten even worse. 

From the cockpit to the snowy ground was at least 20 meters of air. A jump of 15 meters would probably kill her and the depth of the snow wasn't easy to tell either or what lay under it. There were also no branches below to grab and climb down on. She looked up out of the cockpit at the array of variously sized branches that continued up the trunk for another 10 meters, none were easily in reach of the cockpit either.

A few more kicks seperated the plasikglass canopy from the rest of the ship as it scooted further along the branch it had been impaled on. Mari used it has a step onto the top/side of the smoldering starfighter. A waft of steamy smoke caused her to cough again and shield her face. She leaned back into the cockpit and pulled up her helmet and uncoupled the cables out of the back before placing it over her head, then went back to haul her survival bag out from behind her seat. She began the look at the rest of the tree for somewhere to get down. The fighter was only staying aloft by a few branches that were almost sheared off. Adjacent trees that had not caught the starfighter showed the path taken clearly by the damaged branches, a path that would have ended most likely on the ground in a crater had the tree not managed to arrest it. 

She could feel the unstableness of the fighter as she crouch walked atop it, bag strapped to her back. The HUD in the helmet displayed only the information it could gather from Mari's suit, now that the connection with the fighter had been severed. Temperature, vitals and basic navigation filled the corners of her vision; Ambient Temperature: 7°C, Suit Temperature: 36.68°C, Heart Rate 138 BPM, Facing South-Southwest. 

Mari noticed the thousands of small holes that ripped through the armor plates and into the systems underneath. Just as she lowered her hand onto one of the breaches, a metallic groan reverberated off the surrounding trees and resonanted in the metal hull. Her gaze shot up to the left wing as the coupling bent against the weight of supporting the rest of the fighter, before it snapped all together. Mari got the all to familiar feeling in her stomach of descending and as quick as she could, she closed the distance to the nearest branch she could see and leapt into the air, leaving the starfighter to fall to the snowy ground below. 

Mari hung there for a moment, heart beating even faster than before. One elbow over the moderately thick branch and her other hand supporting. She flicked her legs one by one up onto the wooden perch she now found herself on and looked down at the even more smoldering and broken wreck of her ship that was below. This day was getting worse by the second. She pulled the survival pack off her back and placed it on her lap, unbuckling and unzipping it before having a rifle through it. It contained all the usual things human survival kits had since the 20th century: First aid kit, nutrition and water rations, multi-tool, knife, firestarters etc. But also had a portable emergency beacon that shone brightly even in the day time, portable short range communication unit, solar powered battery unit, rebreather with oxygen supply for hostile atmospheric conditions and a plasma pistol for hunting or self defence. But the one thing Mari was after in the pack, was the coil of rope. She took her time to tie a knot that slipped around the branch she sat upon where it shot out from the trunk, yanking on the long end to tighten it and test it's strength. She then began to carefully descend down the tree, repelling off the thick bark with her feet as she let more rope slide through her gloved fingers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you are liking the story so far, please leave a comment and kudos. I have 2 other Miraculous themed stories currently which are taking priority over this one, but this is my favourite to write. One is about Adrien and Marinette becoming mer-people after the events of Syren and another is a very canon based story about Ladybug and Chat Noir fighting a villain called 'Lifeguard', and Adrien almost figures out who Ladybug is! O_o


	5. Chapter 5

A thin mist of vapour escaped her lips, exhaled after her boots hit soft slushy ground. The layer of snow went above her ankles and had started to ooze over the top of her shoes. Mari started to trudge in the direction of the Sun, a logical method to slightly increase her hours of daylight, given she didn't know where she was or where anything else was in relation to her, it didn't matter which way she went. She left a rescue flare near the crashed fighter, pointed in the direction she had set off in, so if in the rare event someone found it, they would know the pilot was alive and where they were heading. 

 

It was a few degrees colder on the ground. Mari had turned off her suit functions to conserve power for when the sun went down, a fast approaching threat, that would plunge the temperature rapidly into the negative. Walking helped keep her temperature up in the well insulated suit, and she had her helmet stopping her head from leaching too much heat. But after an hour of soldiering on through the increasingly thicker snow, her feet had become numb. She had been shivering almost since she turned her suit heating off, a risky and calculated decision that she hope would mean she wouldn't die that evening. Mari had also neglected to open any of her rations, leaving her hyper adrenaline fuelled state to slowly turn into drowsiness. 

In an instant, a numbed foot caught a patch of undergrowth and Mari fell to the icy ground with a soft thud. Her survival training had served her well up until now, but the snow was like a soft mattress after a long day in the cockpit. She didn't want to get up from the ground and her body was content with that. Minutes passed and a fresh frosty layer had started to bury her and the survival pack that had fallen off her. The shivering had stopped and Mari felt warm again, she felt like she was back in her quarters under her soft blanket. Infact, she felt warm. Hot even. 

The sun was almost set. The wind had died down, but the temperature was still decreasing at an alarming rate. However, with a new spark of life, Mari hauled herself up with her gloved hands to kneel in the thick snow. The flakes that had fallen onto her back flew off and settled on the ground behind her and she reached up and pulled her helmet off. Mari fanned her red tinted face with her hand before reaching around to the claspe on the back of her neck. Her of awareness faded away and with a faint hiss, Mari's suit depressurized allowing for easier removal, which she began to do. 

She unzipped the front all the way down to her navel, letting what remained of the icy breeze to contact her exposed skin and blow her blue hair, speckled with white snowflakes. Mari dipped one shoulder and with her other hand, removed her arm from it's encasing in the armoured fabric. She extracted her other arm and remained on her knees with the top half of her suit drapped behind her. 

With a sigh, Mari let out a breath of fog. Her exposed body had turned the same pinky-red hue has her face, but she was still too hot. She stood up on her asleep legs, trying to balance without feedback from her nerves and placed her hands around the waist of her flight suit. 

 

"MARI!!!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you are enjoying this and want more, as always leave a kudos and a comment. It really helps. :)


	6. Chapter 6

The shields of Ren's nimble fighter held against the resistive atmosphere of the planet as it descended. From this altitude, he could see almost half of the surface and it's mostly snowy Taiga biome. Ren completed the relevant checks after leaving a battle and exiting a FTL jump. On his display he could see the rest of the ships he had sent here a few clicks below him, about to land. But he couldn't see Mari.

With a flick, he switched his COMM on, a hint of concern in his voice. "Mari, this is Ren, come in. This is Ren, where are you?" After a moment of no response, he flicked another switch and his displayed started pinging. "PLAGG, is there any sign of her on the radar." He asked his AI with a little more desperation.

"No sign of her transponder or COMM signal, but there is a piece of space junk that matches the characteristics of a federation bomber, 0.3 clicks to your 10 o'clock at -30° elevation." The AI responded.

Ren banked the fighter slightly, causing hull stress that sounded like metallic groans. The newly encountered drag force caused a drain on his ventral shields that flashed warnings in his face, but he only needed a second to spot Mari's ship.

And there it was, right where PLAGG had said, falling elegantly out if the sky ahead of him, leaving a trail of burnt off hull plating and smoke. Ren pressed a button on his helmet and a magnified photo of the falling ship shot onto his display. He pulled the control stick back over slowly and aligned the ship for correct re-entry procedure again. It was too late to do anything now, he had to endure the next few minutes not knowing if Mari was alive or if she was dead, and if she was still alive would she survive the inevitable crash landing. In the meantime, Ren studied the photo he had grabbed. The magnification was enough that the red bomber filled his small display, enough that he could make out the tiny holes in the rear hull, not from bullets but from flechette missiles.

Once the red squad bomber had broken the inner atmosphere, the stubby wings of the craft orientated it for a smoother trajectory towards the ground, almost on a glide slope rather than sinking like a bolder in a pond. Catching the air wasn't the main purpose for the thick wings on each side of the craft, but Ren was glad they had. The second he was through the atmosphere he made a B line towards the falling ship, accelerating to catch up. Flicking a switch on his control panel labelled 'Relative Inertial Dampening' he locked his speed and trajectory with the other craft, leaving him to manoeuvre around it, taking a bit of the hard work out of piloting. But that left him to check whether Mari was alive, dead, unconscious or just had her COMM blown out by the missile.

He got within visual range of her cockpit and leaned forward in his seat to look behind at her. His heart sunk when she was very clearly not awake, limp in her flight seat. She might even be dead he supposed, penetrated by a dozen or more of those tiny rods, or her O2 generator might have been destroyed along with her reserve air supply, leaving her to suffocate in the few minutes they had taken to jump here. He didn't want to think about it any more and lucky for him his thoughts were interrupted by PLAGG.

"I've tried remote accessing the ship, the main computer might be damaged. However I thought you would like to know, the glide slope you two are currently headed on will send you straight into the upcoming mountain, 4.78 clicks ahead. I suggest you change course." His AI mentioned, bring up a HUD overlay of their current course.

"Well I guess we better change that." Ren said to himself, gritting his teeth as he pulled a high G flip to get behind the bomber. After analyzing the landscape rapidly approaching from below for a moment, Ren saw the perfect place to 'land'. His instructor had said that any landing you can walk away from is a good one, something he hoped was going to be true for not only himself, but for Mari too.

He furiously flicked switches and tapped icons on is display, diverting shields, structural integrity fields and G regulators for the insane stunt he was about to pull. The ground was coming up quickly, the mountain range even faster, he didn't have time to be gentle. Closing in on spot that had the least amount of flechette holes, the starboard wing, Ren rolled is fighter to the right, struggling against the control stick with the less than aerodynamic way he was flying now. He continued up along side her and moved in a little more, the pair only a metre apart now as they hurtled towards the ground.

"Deploy landing gear!" Ren barked to his AI. A second later he felt the new forces that the gear was making to his flight characteristics. Pitching the stick slightly down and letting off the thrust ever so slightly he felt the three maglock landing pads attach to their unusual target. He took a second to confirm they were locked, glancing at the indicator on his display, then gently increased thrust.

The manoeuvre was insane, reckless and would definitely get him suspended from flying if anyone ever saw. But these were desperate times, he was willing to possibly sacrifice himself and his ship to at least save Mari, if she wasn't dead already. He was glad that she wasn't awake to see this or comment of his risky behaviour. She would have told him to not risk himself for her sake, the data on his ship from the scan of the massive warship was more important. Screw the data - If he was to go down, so be it; but he was at least going to help his friend, because in the end, he knew she'd do the same for him.

Using all available thrust, he adjusted the trajectory of the two entwined craft, the mountain was no longer an issue but the ground still remained an unavoidable problem. Ren changes to the course once more to try and 'land' both ships in the area he deemed acceptable. However, with a loud shriek and groan, The Black Cat's landing gear buckled under the prolonged stress, un-powering the maglock which was now no longer attached to the bomber's wing. The skilled pilot quickly broke off from the, now again, falling ship to avoid collision. It was sooner than he had hoped, he had hoped to ride with the other ship all the way to the ground, but he had impacted it's tragedy enough to avoid a rocky outcropping he was mostly concerned about. Ren followed behind at a good distance and looked on and whispered a quick prayer.

He winced at the sound the bomber made as it struck the top of the tall trees on its way down. The Evergreens had slowed the craft before it came to rest in one of them half a click from where it had made its first mark. It had bent and broken a dozens tops, finally stoping a third of the way down one particularly sturdy trunk. 

Ren cheered to himself after a sigh of relief when the falling ship didn't immediately explode on contact. The position it had stopped in was a perfect landing under the circumstances, now he just had to land with whatever was left of his landing gear and check on Mari.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading, as always the best way to get more of this is to comment and leave a kuddos!


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